The invention relates to a cord-attached wrap-up device and optional accessory tool holder designed especially for use with hand-held electrical tools. However, the device can have application with a wide variety of other electrical appliances, such as, kitchen and bathroom appliances and electrical cords of all types including computer cords and speaker wires.
Electrical cords and electrical wires used with all manner of equipment, such as, hand held drills, saws, routers, etc., frequently present problems during times of nonuse. If such are allowed to remain loose while stored with other electrical tools it is easy for them to become entangled and damaged. Cords connected between computers, printers, and speakers also easily become entangled.
Efforts have been made to provide reels of various types to wind up unused portions of electrical and other cords with some success but have failed in one or more ways to achieve a fully satisfactory solution. A significant drawback has been that the prior reels do not remain attached to the cord and easily become lost, or at least, are not readily available when needed and when the tool is to be placed in storage. Examples of such prior art devices known to the inventor are listed below.
The U.S. Pat. No. 3,626,495 to Bastian, Jr. is stated to be a Tangle Free Wire Holder. It does not, however, remain attached to the cord in use and thus can easily become lost.
The U.S. Pat. No. 3,901,458 to Kunez, Jr. is a Rope Caddy is designed for winding towing line and fishing lines. It does include a slotted sleeve along one side. However, the slot opening is generally in the plane of the base and is too wide to remain attached to a cord and clearly is not intended do so.
The U.S. Design Pat. No. 378,053 to Forbis is stated to be a Window Blind Storage Clip and has some obvious similarities to the invention herein disclosed. As in Kunez, Jr. the groove entrance is generally in the plane of the base and not at a right angle thereto. While it is intended to remain attached to the cord in use it appears that it could easily be pulled away therefrom. The winding portion also uses tapered notches, which would be unsuitable for most electric cords.
The U.S. Design Pat. Nos. D281,574 to O""Hara; D221,511 to Le Veck and DI36,783 to Dufault relate to cord reels but which are not designed to remain attached to a cord when not in use.
The U.S. Pat. No. 2,204,939 to Lyons is directed to a combined electrical cord reel and outlet plug. While it does remain attached to the cord in use the reel it is actually molded to the electrical plug and thus can be used only with the original cord. Also, it must be molded to the plug at the time of manufacture and can not be added later.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,680,886 to Caselli, Sr. is directed to a fishing line winding device. It does have arcuate recessed portions in the ends and slots in the sides thereof but does not have a sleeve along a side thereof.
The cord wrap-up device disclosed herein comprises a flat body member molded from resilient plastic or rubber having an integrally attached split cylindrical sleeve for attachment onto an electrical cord and for slideable movement thereon. The wrap-up body member includes arcuate recesses at each end thereof adapted to receive and retain one or more loops of an electrical cord. Located around the body periphery and adjacent the edges thereof are a number of cord trapping eyelets each having an inlet groove adapted to receive and secure an otherwise loose leading or trailing end of a looped cord to prevent it from unwinding. The sleeve is designed to have an internal diameter slightly larger than the intended tool power cord to permit the wrap-up device to slide along the length of the cord while remaining attached thereto. One embodiment of the invention includes an integrally molded tool-mounting section having openings and grooves adapted to be used to attach a variety of accessory items, such as Allen wrenches and drill chuck wrenches so that they can be readily available for use with the tool.
It is a primary object of the invention to provide a cord wrap-up device for winding excess or unused power cord for an electrical tool or kitchen or bathroom appliance and a wide variety of other cords thereon and which is slideable along the length of the cord while remaining attached thereto if desired.
It is a further object to provide a cord wrap-up device that includes an accessory tool holding portion for items such as Allen wrenches and drill chuck wrenches so that they can be readily available when needed for use with the tool.
It is a further object to provide a cord wrap-up device that may be used for winding excess cord from a wide variety of electrical and non-electrical devices including computer cords, speakers and kitchen appliances and which can be manufactured at relatively low cost.